


I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

by foreverreadingbeautifulbooks



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas, Fluff, Light Angst, Modern Westeros, POV Multiple, White Christmas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:54:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21643255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foreverreadingbeautifulbooks/pseuds/foreverreadingbeautifulbooks
Summary: Arya writes a letter in Robb’s name to convince Jon Snow and Theon Greyjoy, two of the top performers in television, to come and view the sister act she has with her sister, Sansa. It immediately pays off when Jon appears to fall head over heels for her sister and he and Theon follow the two of them home to their family’s resort, Winterfell. Seeing how well the Jon and Sansa are getting along, Theon and Arya scheme to help the pair act on their obvious feelings for each other, an endeavor that leads to unexpected hilarity and heartache.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, Jon Snow/Sansa Stark
Comments: 44
Kudos: 53





	1. Sisters

“Why are you doing this to me?” Jon groaned to Theon as his best friend dragged him and Gendry into the club. “I don’t want to see some sister act!”

“You don’t understand, Jon!” Theon said in exasperation, sounding as though he’d already explained this to Jon twelve times. To be fair, he actually might have already explained this but Jon hadn’t been paying much attention to him this evening. His mind was already going through his to-do list for their upcoming trip to White Harbor. “This isn’t just any sister act! I got a letter from Robb Stark; they’re his sisters.”

At those words Jon focused completely on the conversation. Robb Stark had been one of his fellow commandersuntil his father had been captured by enemy soldiers and killed. At the loss of one of their highest ranking generals, the lords had immediately promoted his son to take over Eddard Stark’s men. It had been a risk to place a man so young in charge of the front, but it had paid off because Robb had turned out to be a brilliant tactician and had singlehandedly pushed their enemies back until they had taken enough strongholds that the Crownlands were forced to surrender. Jon had liked the good-natured and brilliant commander, but that man had disappeared after his father’s death. Eddard’s murder had hit all of his men hard, but it had completely torn Robb apart and he had pushed himself to his breaking point until, a few months before their enemies surrendered, Robb had been injured and sent home with a purple heart. Jon had been sad to lose the best general they had, but, as he’d privately admitted to Theon, he’d been relieved to see the general go home because he was afraid that the man would kill himself trying to save all of his men since he hadn’t been able to save his father. Jon glanced at Gendry and decided he didn’t want to voice any of the thoughts in his head in front of the young assistant who was already looking around the place for a table for them. He cleared his throat and nodded at Theon, “Then I guess let’s say we’re doing this for a pal in the army.”

Theon nodded back as Gendry led the way to a table that had apparently been reserved specially for them. They settled down and Theon immediately began lightheartedly teasing Jon about the fact that he hadn’t let Theon bring any of the background dancers with them to this event. They’d had a conversation about this just yesterday that had made Jon far less annoyed with Theon about his relentless pushing, but his friend was still incorrigible. “There were two of them who were just dying to come out with you-” he grinned- “or come with you if you’d been willing to take them back to our hotel rooms.”

Jon and Gendry groaned as they exchanged glances with each other. Jon was never sure if Gendry was jealous that Theon always brought beautiful girls to these events to spend time with Jon or relieved that he didn’t have to endure their company. There hadn’t been one that Theon had tried to set Jon up with recently that hadn’t been hoping to use him to advance their careers. Ygritte had been the only one in whom Jon had been interested, but their breakup had been so tumultuous Jon hadn’t wanted to start a relationship with anyone in the show or television industries since.

Before Jon could get too deeply lost in thoughts of Ygritte, he felt Theon nudging his shoulder. Jon looked up toward the stage and suddenly felt a little short of breath. In his line of work he was constantly surrounded by beautiful women, but as he looked up at the stage he was certain he’d never seen any woman that held a candle to the red-headed goddess before him. Jon remembered that Robb had been very good-looking so it shouldn’t have been a surprise that his sister was drop-dead gorgeous, but Jon could tell just by looking at her there was far more to Sansa than just her looks. She had a presence that reminded him of a queen and was appeared so confident and secure up on the stage that it was as though she was crafted for it.Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle in the spotlight and she sent a smile his direction that made his heart flip over in his chest. He managed to pull his gaze from her long enough to take in a pretty short girl with dark brown hair who started off their routine with a flip into the air. Jon glanced back at her red-haired sister and was even more captivated when she opened her mouth and began to sing with the sweetest voice Jon had ever heard.

“How about those big brown eyes,” he heard Gendry say dreamily next to him.

“No, they’re blue,” Jon replied. He should know, he was currently lost in the sea of those bright blue eyes.

“Brown,” Gendry said.

“Blue,” Jon corrected him again. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Jon vaguely registered Theon leaning over to Gendry to whisper something at him.After hearing whatever Theon had whispered, Gendry admitted, “Oh yeah…deep blue.”

Jon was so wrapped up in the routine and gorgeous voices of the women in front of him that it wasn’t until after they left the stage that he realized he had never responded. It was good that Theon had set Gendry to rights though. Those blue eyes deserved sonnets written about their beautiful depths and Jon would insist upon anyone doing them the courtesy of at least admitting to their proper color.

It seemed an age until the Stark sisters were finally out of their costumes and coming over to the table where Jon, Theon, and Gendry were waiting for them.

“Won’t you sit down?” Jon breathlessly asked the red-headed girl who graced him with a smile in response as she slid into the available seat next to him. Theon immediately offered his own seat to the other sister and motioned for the waiter to bring them another. Jon raised his eyebrows at his friend, unused to him being so polite, but Theon merely smiled down at them and said, “I almost hate to sit down and break up this tableau. It’s cozy with everyone sitting boy, girl, boy, girl.”

The girls laughed and the girl with the short brown hair nodded up at him, “You’re Theon Greyjoy.” She turned back to Jon, “And you’re Jon Snow.” Then she turned to the man seated on her right, “You I don’t have the pleasure of knowing.”

“I’m Gendry,” their assistant declared eagerly. He looked utterly smitten with the girl in front of him. Jon sympathized.

“Would you give us the pleasure of learning your names?” Jon said, turning back to the girl next to him.

Her eyes sparkled mischievously as she said, “It might be more fun if we didn’t. You could spend the whole evening guessing.”

Jon grinned at her and said, “I suppose we could, Miss Stark. Or should I call you Red?”

“You could,” she said with a laugh, “Or you could call me Sansa-” she nodded her head across the table- “And this is my sister, Arya.”

The extra seat arrived at the table and Theon sat down between Jon and Arya. “Jon and Gendry were just commenting on what remarkable eyes you both have.” Gendry shot Jon a horrified look across the table, but Jon just sighed. Theon had attempted to set Jon on too many occasions for him to feel embarrassment at Theon’s displays anymore.

“You girls have quite the act,” he said instead, determined to change the subject as quickly as possible. “Robb never mentioned there was so much talent in the family.”

Sansa bit her lip next to him and Jon tore his eyes away from the motion before he did something crazy like place a kiss on those lips. “You see, Mr. Snow-”

“He didn’t want to take advantage of old army friendship,” her sister interrupted. “You know how reserved he is.”

Jon had never once thought of Robb Stark as a reserved man. Everything about him had always seemed to be bolder and brighter than everyone else. His engaging manner had only ever been outshined by his brilliant military career. However, he supposed that people’s families always saw a different side of them than everyone else and decided not to comment.

“Speaking of families,” Theon interjected. “I read this article just the other day about how the Minister of Health is encouraging parents in the North to give their children supplements of Vitamin D since they don’t get quite as much sunlight as those here in the south.”

“Oh yes, I read that same article,” Sansa exclaimed. “I found it fascinating that they were suggesting that approach without offering any means of providing the North with said supplements since they can be pretty expensive in the wintertime and therefore not within the budget of families that are just trying to keep food on the table.”

This was clearly a more educated response than Theon was expecting, but he bulldozed past her comment with all the grace of a bear learning to dance. “Are you interested in settling down and having a family yourself, Miss Stark.”

Sansa blushed and looked down at her hands. “I suppose I would be,” she responded. Then he heard her say under her breath, so quietly that everyone else must have missed it, “For the right person.”

“Isn’t that nice?” Theon said, continuing to make an ass out of himself as he looked pointedly at Jon who was doing his best to ignore the idiot so he wouldn’t punch his jaw for making Sansa feel uncomfortable. “It’s so refreshing to find someone in show business who’s interested in marriage or children.”

Jon kicked Theon’s leg under the table as he muttered, “Pushing. Pushing.”

Theon ignored Jon’s attempt to stop him and only the smallest wince indicated he’d felt anything as he said, “Most people are just looking for success more than anything else.”

“Speaking of success,” Arya interjected. “I wouldn’t mind finding a bit more of that myself. Do you have any advice for us, Mr. Snow? Any suggestions for our act?”

“Not at all,” Jon told her with a smile. Whether or not she knew that she had saved Sansa and himself from whatever line of commentary Theon was headed down, Jon was grateful to her for changing the subject. “You’re both very talented. Just keep up the good work and success is bound to find you.”

“Are there any changes you think we should make to our routine to make it stand out a bit more?” Arya persisted. “Maybe we should look more alike in our act. We could dye Sansa’s hair dark to match mine if you think that would look better.”

Jon glanced back at Sansa and couldn’t help but smile at her. “No, I don’t think you should change a thing.”

Theon coughed and turned to Arya. “Gendry was saying earlier how much he’d like to dance. Would you mind indulging him?”

Gendry turned beet red and didn’t seem to know whether to look mortified or delighted as Arya smiled and said, “Sure, I wouldn’t mind taking a turn around the room.” She looked meaningfully at her sister and said, “Don’t discuss anything important while I’m gone.” Then she took Gendry’s hand and whisked him toward the dance floor.

“Excuse me,” Theon said with all the finesse of a lying toddler. “I just remembered I need to make a quick phone call.”

Jon groaned internally as Theon left the table. As glad as he was to have some time alone with Sansa, he wished his friend would learn just the slightest bit of subtlety.

He glanced over at Sansa and saw to his relief that she seemed to be mostly ignoring Theon and was instead smiling toward the dance floor where Arya was clearly leading Gendry in the dance of his life.

“They look sweet together,” Jon said softly.

“They do,” Sansa agreed, turning her smile back on him. 

“Gendry seems quite taken with your sister. I’m very glad that we got Robb’s letter so they had a chance to meet.” 

“Mr. Snow-” Sansa started.

“Call me Jon,” he told her.

“Jon,” she said with a small smile. “I need to tell you something. Robb didn’t write the letter you received. Arya did.”

Jon laughed and joked, “Well what do you know, even little Arya has an angle.”

Sansa looked rather abashed rather than amused at his joke. “I can only imagine how grasping that seems. But she’s been rather frustrated with our lack of success recently and wanted the opinion of someone who’s made it on how we could improve. Since she thought you’d never come if we asked you, she decided to pretend that Robb did. I’m so sorry to have brought you here under false pretenses-”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jon told her.

“Well of course it matters!” Sansa protested, scooting her chair slightly to face him more directly.

“No, it doesn’t. Everyone in this industry has an angle.”

“Well that’s a depressing point of view,” Sansa said, leaning back in her seat as though she was weighed down by his cynicism.

“When you’ve worked in this industry as long as I have, you’ve had people become your friends, your lovers, do you favors, or anything to try to entice you into giving them a leg up,” Jon told her, leaning forward. “This is so minor on the scale of angles that it barely registers.”

Sansa’s mouth had steadily twitched down this whole time and she pulled her chair closer to his before reaching over to grasp his hand. “I’m sorry so many people have tried to take advantage of you,” she said softly.

 _You haven’t_ , Jon thought to himself as he squeezed her hand in response. “Thank you,” he told her earnestly. Part of him loved her for understanding but the rest of him was determined to let her know that he didn’t hold this against her. “But I want you to know I don’t think any less of either of you for this little pretense. I’m very glad I got a chance to meet you - no matter what the circumstances that brought us together.”

“Well that’s very kind of you,” Sansa told him graciously. “And I suppose since your friend seems determined that we spend some time alone together that we should just enjoy getting to know each other.”

Jon chuckled, completely delighted that she had not only picked up on Theon’s behavior but seemed perfectly willing to call him out for his rudeness. “I’ll drink to that,” he told her, lifting his glass to clink against the one she raised to meet it.


	2. The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing

Arya grinned as she led Gendry to the dance floor. She had not intended to spend any portion of her night flirting, but she also had not known that one of the men attending their performance would be so hot. Sansa had been irritated beyond belief when she found out that Arya had written the letter from Robb to Jon Snow and Theon Greyjoy asking them to attend their performance, but Arya had reminded her that they might never have the chance to have two of the biggest names in television attend one of their performances if she didn’t take advantage of the unusual connection that Robb had so helpfully reminded her of the last time they had spoken.

“So how do you know Mr. Snow and Mr. Greyjoy?” she asked Gendry as she turned to take him in her arms once they reached the dance floor. Some girls might cede control as they danced and allow the man to lead, but Arya hadn’t had that much trust in a partner in quite awhile. Not to mention, she was a better dancer than most men she had the pleasure - or in some cases, displeasure - of dancing with so it usually went more smoothly if she led.

Gendry seemed momentarily flustered to not be leading, but he quickly adjusted and allowed her to take control of their dance. Arya internally cheered her approval as she waltzed them across the dance floor; it was hard to find a hot man who didn’t mind a strong woman. “I’ve been their assistant for the past several months,” he told her as she spun them around another couple.

“Oh cool!” Arya exclaimed. “What’s it like to work on the set of _Talented Bastards_?”

Gendry grinned at her enthusiasm and Arya felt her stomach flutter a little as she saw the way his eyes lit up when he smiled. “It’s definitely cool to be behind the scenes watching them work out their dance and song routines and I’ve met several movie and music stars when they came to set.”

“That’s so awesome!” Arya exclaimed. “Were any celebrities unexpected assholes?”

Gendry laughed at her question and then frowned as he told her, “Ramsey Bolton came on set once and was such a dick that the episode that was supposed to have him in it never aired because Jon yelled at him when he was rude to Theon and then ended up punching his lights out when the man tried to take advantage of one of the extras.”

Arya’s eyes widened and she looked back at Jon appreciatively, noting with pleasure the way that her sister was holding his hand. She’d found in this industry that the famous often stopped caring for the people around them that didn’t have fame, fortune, or connections. But a man who would offend a celebrity to stick up for an unknown extra was the kind of person she wanted around her sister. Sansa hadn’t been with anyone in years and she deserved someone who would take care of her the same way she took care of everyone else.

She focused her attention back on Gendry before he noticed her gazing at her sister and Jon. “Ramsey Bolton’s song lyrics are very misogynistic so I guess it’s not that surprising, but still that’s crazy! Anyone who was nicer than you expected?”

He tilted his head in thought and Arya had to focus on keeping her hand firmly locked in place against his so she didn’t fan herself at how hot she found it when he furrowed his brow and bit his lip. “Hmm, well Daenerys Targaryen came onto set one week to meet with Jon and Theon about the behind the scenes look that she was planning for _Talented Bastards_ and was just a little bit on the crazy side. I mean, she brought her three giant cats - that she exclusively referred to as her _darling children_ \- and a man to carry each one around with her to our studio even though it’s only ten minutes away from hers-”

Arya cut him off with a burst of laughter as she tried to picture the crazy day on set that must have been.

Gendry grinned at her response before continuing his story as he told her, “I honestly expected her assistant, Missandei, to be the same way and was utterly relieved to discover that the girl was completely down-to-earth.”

Arya snickered, “That must have made your life easier.”

“It did,” he said, still grinning. “She would quietly steer Miss Targaryen away from her crazier ideas in our meetings and I only had to personally deal with Missandei instead of her boss. Unfortunately, Jon and Theon had to deal with Miss Targaryen quite a bit that week and they almost killed each other in the insanity. I had to arrange three-hour massages for them at the end of the week just so they had a chance to relax after that.”

“So is that primarily what you do for them?” Arya teased. “Arrange massages?”

Laughing, Gendry shrugged, "I arrange most of their travel, call agents for when they need background dancers or singers, and communicate a lot of their notes to the writers, directors, and guest stars. Mostly though, my job means that I do whatever I can to make their lives easier.” He smirked and shook his head as he told her, “There’s never a boring day, I can tell you that.”

Suddenly, he seemed to catch himself as he looked down at her and blushed. “I usually never talk this much, Miss Stark-”

“Arya,” she corrected.

“Arya,” he said softly. She felt herself shiver at the way he said her name like it was the most precious thing in the world.

“I’d love to hear more about you. What got you interested in dancing?” he asked.

“Well I guess it was my dad,” she told him, smiling at the memories that his question evoked. “When I was little, I tried so hard to tag along with my older brother and his friends to play sports with them, but I was so little that they’d never let me join their football or soccer games for fear I’d get hurt.” She shrugged as she paused to explain, “We lived so far out in the country that there were no girls sports teams within driving distance.” Spinning them around, she led them to a less crowded spot on the floor where she could focus on talking as opposed to weaving between other couples. “One day, I was crying over how frustrated I was that I couldn’t seem to fit and my dad found me. He told me how unique I was and that he thought I should have something that was just mine. The next day, a water dancing master showed up at Winterfell and I had lessons with him every afternoon after school for the next three years.”

Gendry smiled softly at her story. “And you were good,” he inferred.

Smiling back up at him, Arya admitted, “And I was good. But also, I fell in love with it. The feeling of having something that was entirely mine and learning how to move my body exactly how I wanted to, there’s nothing else like it. For a girl who had very little control over everything that happened in my life, especially once the war started a few years later, it was good to havethat as an escape.”

Gendry nodded as he agreed, “Everyone needs an escape sometimes.”

“What was yours?” She asked, sensing a story in those words.

“Smithing,” he told her. “I went to trade school for it and I just loved striking the metal, the feeling of it coming alive beneath my hammer, and shaping it into something useful or beautiful.” He paused for a moment and Arya saw a hint of wistfulness in his eyes when he continued, “But I injured my hand in the war and I can’t swing the heavy hammer anymore.” Arya opened her mouth to respond, but Gendry barreled on before she could say a word, “So I looked for other work and eventually found a job I was really good at-” he nodded toward their table- “working for those knuckleheads.”

From his tone, Arya knew he didn’t want her pity. She understood, having spent the past several years avoiding people’s pity when they found out about her parents. So instead of making any remark about his injury, she answered dryly, “Yes, you are really good. Who else would arrange their massages if you didn’t?”

Gendry laughed and Arya grinned up at him before her smile faded a little as she realized the dance was coming to an end. Not wanting to cut her time short with Gendry or interrupt her sister’s intimate-looking conversation with Jon Snow, she motioned toward the bar. “Care for a drink?”

“It would be my pleasure, m’lady,” Gendry told her with a small bow as the dance ended.

Arya snorted in a completely unladylike fashion and led the way toward the bar, laughing when she saw Theon camped out there as well.

“Like what you see?” Arya asked him as she wandered over to where he was seated while Gendry headed toward the bartender to get them both drinks. Theon turned from where he had been staring at Sansa and Jon and grinned unabashedly at her as he replied, “Yes, Miss-”

“Arya,” she interrupted to correct him.

“Arya,” he agreed easily. “Your sister seems like a kind woman and I’d love Jon to find a bit of happiness. Since they already seem taken with each other, I’m filled with the desire to give them some help in spending time together. After all, the Christmas season is all about giving and I, in particular, am a giver.”

Gendry rolled his eyes from where he was coming up behind Arya with a drink in each hand, but she smirked back at Theon’s response. As she took a sip of her whiskey, she couldn’t help but think about Sansa’s last relationship and felt the smile fade from her face. “Sansa’s been hurt before,” she told Theon hesitantly. “Would he be kind to her?”

Without any hesitation, Gendry said, “Yes, Jon’s always taking care of everyone.”

Theon smiled the most genuine smile she’d seen cross his face and Arya could feel the honesty in his words when he told her, “He’s the best man I know.”

“Good,” Arya responded, smiling back at them both.

“Does that mean you’re on board with my plan to shove the two of them together as much as humanly possible?” Theon asked.

Arya pretended to think it over for a minute, but she had already made up her mind. At best, her sister would get a gorgeous and famous boyfriend out of this and at worst more time spent with Jon and Theon might gain them some much-needed exposure that would help them to further their careers. Either outcome gave Arya the personal bonus of spending more time getting to know Gendry, so she was fine with however this turned out. “I suppoooose,” she said thoughtfully, tapping her chin as she pretended to mull it over. “But you have to promise me you'll respect Sansa’s boundaries. If she shoots him down, you can’t keep trying to force him on her.”

Theon looked offended at her words and immediately snapped, “Of course! Who do you think I am?”

Ignoring the question, Arya continued, “And I want something as well.”

Theon smirked at that, “What can I do for you?”

“If Jon and Sansa do get together, we’d practically be family and I want you to promise me that you’ll never try to set me up like this-” she ignored Theon’s burst of laughter as she continued on- “I am my own woman and I can figure things out for myself.”

“I have no doubt about that,” Theon said, wiping a tear from his eyes as he finally managed to get a hold of his laughter. “Yes, I promise.”

“Good,” Arya said, reaching out a hand to shake his. She turned to Gendry, “Now that we’ve settled that, want to go out with me the next time Theon forces Jon and Sansa together?”

“Y-y-y-yes!” Gendry stammered. He had clearly not been expecting that turn of events if his blush was any indication, but Arya had no intention of waiting for him to make the first move when she could just as easily make it herself.

She grinned up at him for a moment before refocusing her attention on Theon. “So how should we go about this?”

“Well, we’re leaving tonight for White Harbor so it would have to wait a few weeks till we’re back,” he told her.

She nodded, “It wouldn’t matter if you were here anyway. We’re leaving first thing in the morning to catch a train to Winterfell,” she told him. She glanced out the window next to the bar and grimaced, “If we make it out, that is.”

“What do you mean?” Gendry asked in concern.

“Our sleazeball of a landlord is trying to charge us for damages to the apartment, which was a piece of trash place when we moved in. He offered to waive them if Sansa would sleep with him-” she made a gagging sound at the mere mention of his offer, but she was so irate that she appreciated the anger she saw reflected in both their eyes-“but she told him to go to hell and we snuck our bags out so we could head to the station from here. When he found out though, he decided to send the sheriff have us arrested for the damages,” she seethed. “We have picture evidence we didn’t cause any of it, but by the time we had a hearing, we would probably miss our train and I’m not sure if we’d be able to get tickets to catch another before Christmas.”

“How do you know he sent the sheriff?” Theon asked her.

“The owner gave us a head’s up. He’s sympathetic, but he can’t mess with the sheriff on our behalf without risking repercussions to his business if the sheriff decides to take it out on him afterwards.”

Theon grinned slyly at Gendry, “This sounds like something we can definitely help with. Why don’t you help the girls sneak out the back while Jon and I provide a distraction?”

Arya raised her eyebrows, “Are you sure you want to do this? Why would you mess with the sheriff for us?”

Theon patted her arm as he said dreamily, “One blessed hour, all to myself.”

Arya and Gendry stared at him as though he had grown a third head. “Huh?” Gendry said eloquently.

“What does that mean?” Arya asked in confusion.

“Never mind, that’s not important,” Theon said, waving his hand in front of his face as though waving their questions away. “You can make it up to me by helping me find ways for Jon and Sansa to spend time together.”

“Deal,” Arya said, shaking his hand.

“What’s a deal?” Sansa asked, coming up behind them.

“Gendry is going to escort you ladies down to the station to make sure you get there safely,” Theon told her smoothly, before heading back to their table. Arya watched as he said a few words to Jon and then headed back their way.

“That’s very sweet of you, Mr. Waters,” Sansa said politely. “But our tickets aren’t good till tomorrow.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Theon told her as he rejoined their conversation. “Gendry has our tickets and you can use those to get out tonight.”

She frowned, “We can’t take your tickets, Mr. Greyjoy. What will Jon think?” Arya grinned at Sansa's use of Jon Snow’s first name - her proper sister was in the habit of referring to gentlemen as Mister when she was speaking about them to other people. He had clearly made quite an impression on her sister for Sansa to slip like that and not even notice.

“It was his idea,” Theon said so earnestly that Arya almost believed him.

“But how will you two get out of Highgarden?” she asked.

Theon laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of that. ”

“But why should you do all this to help us?” Sansa protested feebly as Arya pushed her toward their dressing room. “We’re practically strangers.”

“Don’t worry,” Theon muttered softly enough that only Arya could hear him. "I’ll be taking care of that too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on the first chapter! They help keep me fueled to write! <3 I hope you all enjoy this one! ;)


	3. Let Me Sing and I’m Happy

It hadn’t taken much to get Jon to agree to go along with his plan (much as Jon hated it) merely a reminder that Sansa was in trouble. Jon had apparently already fallen head over heels for her and Theon didn’t blame him. The girl was gorgeous, intelligent, and clearly very refined. If Theon didn’t already have a girlfriend of his own, he probably would have joined Sansa’s list of admirers - which he suspected was very long indeed. She would make an excellent partner for Jon if his slow-moving friend could ever find his way toward pursuing her.

Theon grinned as he watched his friend add a pale pink sash and butterfly barrette to his customary dark look. The effect was just as ridiculous as Theon had hoped and he knew he looked the same.As he waited for Jon to finish fussing with his hair in the mirror, he thought about the confrontation he’d had with Jon yesterday after Jon had brushed off the date Theon had set up for him that was supposed join them for an evening out. Following Jon into their dressing room, he'd been surprised by the irritated look on Jon’s face.

“Theon, what the hell?” Jon had asked. “For the past several months, you’ve been trying to set me up with anyone and everyone you can find and I am so sick of it. As long as they’re alive and attractive, you shove them toward me with all the subtlety of an atomic bomb.”

“Well it’s for your own good,” Theon told him indignantly. Just because it was also for Theon’s good did not negate that he was trying to help his friend to find love. Jon should be grateful that Theon always took such excellent care of him. “You’re a lonely, miserable man. And when you’re unhappy, I’m unhappy too. I feel a strong sense of responsibility for you, Jon. Ever since…” he trailed off and grabbed onto the arm that had been injured during the war.

Jon’s eyes followed the motion and seemed to grow darker as he saw what Theon was indicating. “Seven hells **,** ” he groaned, rolling his eyes as he reached up to massage his temple. “You’re not pulling that life-saving thing again, are you?”

“Fine,” Theon snapped. “Forget it.”

“I can’t forget it,” Jon accused. “You won’t let me. Ever since you saved my life, you think it’s yours to run. And I know we’ve done amazing work together because I’ve followed your pushing and prodding. But now you’ve stepped beyond my professional life and seem to think that whenever you point at your arm and gaze sadly at me with those big green eyes, I should melt and go along.” He glared at Theon for a moment before grinding out, “Where do you get off thinking my personal life is yours to run?”

“I do not think it’s mine to run and I certainly don’t expect any gratitude,” Theon told him scornfully. Jon’s life would go more smoothly if he _allowed_ Theon to run it. Not to mention, he had saved the bastard’s life and he _deserved_ gratitude, but he was insulted that Jon would insinuate that he _expected_ it.

“Well you’re getting it anyway,” Jon ground out between clenched teeth. “You saved my life, talked me into being your partner, and collaborated with me on all the decisions that made our careers so successful.”

Theon nodded. That was more like it.

“So thank you, Theon Greyjoy, from the bottom of my heart,” Jon continued, giving him an exaggerated little bow. “Now will you leave the rest of my life alone.”

“No, I will not,” Theon said. “Not until you’ve got a rest of your life to leave alone.”

“What are you talking about?” Jon asked, looking simultaneously annoyed and confused.

“You’re a lonely, miserable, unhappy man,” Theon repeated. “And it’s my job to make sure you don’t stay that way.”

“You’re crazy,” Jon told him, rolling his eyes. “I’m very happy.”

“Well if you are, you’re happy for all the wrong reasons. And that’s the same thing, except worse,” he sighed and put his hands on the dressing table in front of him as he looked over at his partner. “I know you always dreamed of showing your father and stepfamily that you could make it on your own and you have, but we’re successful now and you need to make room in your life for the things you’re missing.”

“And what am I missing?” Jon asked him, looking irritated at the mention of his horrible familyand clearly ready to write off whatever Theon’s answer was.

“Love,” Theon said softly. He might have gone about this in a way that Jon didn’t appreciate, but he was genuinely concerned that Jon hadn’t opened himself up to anyone in a while.

Jon looked hurt for a moment and then turned his back on Theon to begin changing out of his costume and into his normal black clothing. “I’ll get around to that,” he said softly.

“Jon,” Theon said with a groan. “If I let you do that…by the time what’s left of you gets around to what’s left to be gotten, what’s left to be gotten won’t be worth getting whatever it is you’ve got left.”

Rolling his eyes, Jon let out a little huff of laughter. “If I ever figure out what that nonsensical response means, I’ll come up with a crushing reply.” He raised his eyebrow and looked at Theon suspiciously, “What’s behind all this anyway?”

“Nothing!” Theon said a little too quickly. He held up his hands in defense and said sweetly, “Only your happiness.”

“Mhmm, I’m sure,” Jon said with both eyebrows raised now. “Whenever you do anything that is solely for my personal benefit and happiness, there’s always something that you get out of it. Now what is it?”

“You _really_ want to know?” Theon sighed.

“Yes I _really_ want to know,” Jon sighed back mockingly.

“Fine, I’ll _really_ tell you,” Theon said with a glare. “Ever since we started producing our show, you’ve gone absolutely insane. I used to think you were a hard worker when we first got our show, but that was nothing compared to the workaholic you’ve become as a producer.”

“It was your idea!” Jon yelled.

“Of course it was my idea, but I didn’t think I was going to create a monster. I’ve barely had one minute to spend with Jeyne these past six months and you’ve embraced every opportunity to avoid the apartment that I know feels empty since you and Ygritte split up.”

For a minute Jon looked like he was going to deck him, but then he sighed and buried his head in his hands. “You’re right,” he told his friend.

“I know I’m right,” Theon said. “And I’m not saying you need to fall for the first person that comes your way, but could you think about opening yourself up a little so that you have a chance to find someone who means something to you? And it wouldn’t hurt to make a little time for yourself so that when you do find them, they don’t instantly feel like you’re too busy to have a relationship with them.”

Jon met Theon’s gaze and there was something in his eyes that Theon had never seen before. “You’re right,” he said softly. “I’ve been avoiding confronting how empty my life is since we broke up and I’m sorry I dragged you into that process as well.”

“Jon, you’re my best friend,” Theon told him,, stepping closer to pat Jon’s arm comfortingly. “I’m always here for you. I just don’t want you to miss out on something wonderful because you’re too consumed with work.”

Jon gave him a quick hug and then joked, “Or lose your own something wonderful because I’m too consumed with work.”

“Well I won’t let that happen,” Theon promised him. “But if you could settle down with a beautiful partner and have five children, that would be helpful. If you only spent ten minutes a day with your wife and each of your kids, I’d at least have an hour to take Jeyne out or-” he waggled his eyebrows- “keep her in.”

Jon laughed at the image of their lives Theon was painting for him. “Is five children going to be enough?”

Theon smirked as he replied, “If I need you to have more, I’ll tell you.”

Now as he heard the track with Sansa’s singing begin to play - which was their cue to head toward the stage - Theon delightedly reflected that fate seemed to be on his side. After only yesterday getting Jon to agree that he needed to open himself up more, this amazing woman had stepped into their lives today and captured his attention. Jon stepped away from the mirror and gave Theon one last glare. Theon gallantly held in his laughter at how the murderous look on Jon’s face clashed with the pink accessories he was wearing. He grabbed Jon’s arm and dragged him toward the stage.

Theon was in his element as their entrance onto the dance floor was met with uproarious applause and laughter.Jon began to sway back and forth while lip-syncing the melody while Theon lip-synched the harmony. At the same time, Theon performed what he could remember of Arya’s dance routine - intentionally dancing so badly that the audience howled with laughter. Deciding to play up their ridiculous accessories, he stopped in the middle of the dance floor during one of Sansa’s gorgeous solos that Jon was faithfully lip-syncing along to and bopped his head back and forth while he pushed Jon’s to do the same. The springs on the little butterfly barrettes made it appear as though they were about to fly off of their heads, an effect so ridiculous that one large gentlemen at the table right in front of them fell off his seat in laughter. Theon grinned to see it and decided to ham up the routine even further by pulling Jon into his terrible dance, making the audience howl with laughter when they saw the horrified expression on Jon’s face. But Jon was a performer first and foremost and when he saw the audience’s reactions to his facial expressions, he wrenched himself out of Theon’s arms andbegan to play up his annoyance with Theon for the crowd - pretending to throttle him when he got too close or run away to the other side of the dance floor when Theon tried to pull him into the dance. As the song came to an end, Theon executed a perfect pirouette that landed him in Jon’s arms. Jon caught him, threw an exaggerated wink to the audience, and then dropped him to the floor where Theon posed as Jon did a curtsy. 

The audience was still laughing as they gave a standing ovation to the pair who had performed so purposely badly that it could only have been done by professionals. If this thunderous applause was any indication, Jon and Theon should incorporate more ridiculous routines like this into their show. Theon gave a bow, indicated to Jon to do the same, and then grabbed his partner’s hand to give a third bow with him. As soon as that was over, Jon dragged him off the dance floor and into the backstage area.

“They’re giving us a standing ovation,” Theon noted with approval. “We should get back out there and take another bow!”

“Are you crazy?” Jon asked, pulling Theon towards the Stark sisters’ dressing room. “We’ll be taking a bow right down to jail if we stick around here any longer.”

At that moment, they heard voices calling after them, “Hey you, stop!” Turning they saw three men coming out one of the doors down the hall, one of them wearing a sheriff’s badge on his shirt.

“Run!” Theon yelled, shoving Jon into the dressing room and slamming the door behind them. He immediately began piling furniture in front of the door in an attempt to slow down the men banging on the other side.

“Come on!” Jon growled, dragging Theon to the nearest window and shoving him up onto the ledge.

Theon thanked his lucky stars that the girls had their dressing room on the first floor or jumping out of this window would have been a very different experience. Vaguely he heard the sounds of furniture crashing as Jon jumped out the window behind him. “Taxi!” Theon yelled, grabbing Jon’s arm and pulling him into a run as he dashed toward the one waiting down the street. He thanked his lucky stars that Gendry had told him he would have one waiting for them when they left.

“Take us to Highgarden Central Station,” he ordered the taxi driver as they jumped into the back seat. “And step on it!”

The driver did as he was bid and Theon slowly relaxed as they drove several blocks with no cop cars appearing behind them. The sheriff must not have caught the license plate number of the cab in which they had escaped. He looked over at Jon and grinned. “Quite the adventure, wasn’t it?”

“Thrilling,” Jon said dryly, pulling the butterfly barrette out of Theon’s hair and smirking down at it. “You should wear this more often. It suits you.”

“I know! It brings out the color in my eyes,” Theon retorted, fluttering his lashes at Jon.

Jon snorted and shook his head, gazing out the window.

“Seriously Jon,” Theon said. “I know it’s not easy for you to make a fool of yourself onstage like it is for me, but I really appreciated you playing along and I know the Stark sisters will too.”

Jon looked surprised at the sincerity in Theon’s voice. “Well I was happy to help them out,” he responded. “They seemed like nice girls.”

“Didn’t they?” Theon asked, grinning at how easily the topic had come up. “Especially the elder Miss Stark. I thought she was just lovely, didn’t you?”

Jon frowned at Theon and opened his mouth, but - much to Theon’s relief - before he could get a word out the taxi driver called out, “Highgarden Central Station!”

Theon paid the driver as Jon hopped out of the taxi and when Theon joined him on the sidewalk, Jon grabbed his shoulder and pointed up at the clock on the front of the station demanding frantically, “Is that the right time?”

Glancing up, Theon’s eyes widened in horror. He’d been so preoccupied with their close call with the sheriff earlier that he’d completely forgotten to keep track of the time and now there was only five minutes until their train would leave - with their assistant and all of the bags they’d had delivered to the station earlier - on it.

“We gotta run for it!” Theon yelled, dashing through the station with Jon hot on his heels. Running toward the tracks, he saw the train pulling out of the station and booked it toward the doors. Jon, who had always been a faster runner than Theon, surpassed him and managed to grab the handles of the last car. Pulling himself up, he reached behind him and grabbed Theon’s hand to drag him into the car as well.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Theon opened the door to enter the last car and found the conductor waiting for them. “Welcome aboard, gentlemen. You made it just in time.”

“Do you think we’re in the right car?” Jon asked Theon.

“You have space on this train?” The conductor asked in response, tilting his head as he considered the pair of them.

“Yes, of course we do,” Jon told them conductor airily. He turned to Theon, “Show him the tickets.”

 _Shit._ Theon had intended to tell Jon about giving the Stark girls their tickets earlier, but he’d been so preoccupied with the events of the last few hours that it had totally slipped his mind.He couldn’t tell him now though, not after Jon had been such a good sport about performing an unrehearsed - and frankly idiotic - routine, they’d narrowly escaped arrest, and barely made it onto their train. “Um…” he stalled as he stuck his hands into his coat pockets. “Tickets.” He moved his hands to his pants pocket as Jon stared at him in disbelief.

“What’s the matter with you?” Jon asked.

“Just looking for the tickets…”

“ Come on, bird-brain, get them out,” Jon told him, irritation creeping into his voice.

Theon pulled his hand out of the inside pocket of his jacket, producing the only thing he had on his person. “Maybe you have them, Jon.”

“Me?” Jon asked in exasperation. “You told me Gendry gave them to you!”

“Well they’re gone!” Theon told him, pretending to be shocked at this development. “They must have fallen out on the way here.”

“Gentlemen,” the conductor interrupted, clearly growing tired of this exchange. “Either you have tickets or you don’t.”

“We reserved a drawing room!” Jon protested.

“Every available room on this train is already occupied by passengers with tickets,” the conductor told him flatly. “But if you want to purchase tickets, you’re welcome to sit up all night in the club car.”

“Oh that’s fine,” Jon scoffed, his tone indicating just how far from fine the situation was. “How much are two fares to White Harbor?”

The conductor glanced down at his machine and pulled up the fares, “That would be five hundred and eighty-four dollars and twenty-six cents.”

“How much more is it to Winterfell?” Theon asked the conductor.

The man glanced down at his machine to pull up the prices for those tickets when Jon interrupted irritably, “What do you mean, Winterfell? We’re going to White Harbor!”

“It must be beautiful in Winterfell this time of year, Jon. All the lovely nature. All that snow,” Theon suggested. He was hoping that the thought of a gorgeous Christmas that far north would be appealing to his friend, but clearly he would have to be a lot more direct because Jon merely frowned at him.

“Two tickets to White Harbor,” Jon said, turning his tax back toward the conductor.

“How much more to Winterfell?” Theon asked again.

“Winterfell!” Jon exclaimed, finally irritated enough to confront Theon head-on. “Who cares? Who’s going to Winterfell?”

 _Sansa Stark_ , Theon thought to himself. _The girl you couldn’t take your eyes off of earlier. The girl I would drag you as far as Essos to find._

Unable to say those words without provoking Jon’s wrath, Theon merely told him, “We are. I mean…we should! It would do us a lot of good to take a break there, Jon.” Thinking quickly, hecontinued to ramble away on the few things he knew about Winterfell. “All the snow, and the fir trees, and fresh air.” Running out of characteristics to list off about a location he’d never paid much attention to before, he continued, “It would be a great change of pace, just what we need!”

“Two tickets to White Harbor,” Jon told the conductor, holding up a hand to stop Theon’s protest and pulling out his wallet to pay for their tickets.

Biting back a sigh, Theon watched as Jon collected the tickets and was directed by the man toward the club car where they would spend their evening. Crossing through two cars on their way there, Theon listened to Jon grumble the whole time.

“I just don’t understand,” Jon said in irritation. “We had space in our names. They need to keep that reserved for us. How could they give it away to someone else?”

“Well…” Theon hedged. “There was probably a mix-up somewhere along the way. I mean, it is the holiday and things get crazy.” Walking past one of the drawing rooms, he glanced to the side and saw Arya and Sansa on one of the couches while Gendry standing in the doorway gawking at them. Pulling the door shut in Gendry’s face before the man could say anything, he pushed an unaware Jon more quickly out of the hallway. “I think the club car is through there. Let’s hurry! I’m starving.”

Jon entered the club car and flopped down on one of the booths. “This is fabulous,” he said darkly. “We pay for our tickets twice and we have to sit up all night. Not to mention who knows what happened to our bags or our assistant!”

“It’ll be fine,” Theon consoled. “We’ll find Gendry and our bags in the morning and we’d have to sit up all night if we hadn’t managed to get a drawing room.”

“But we did manage to get a drawing room!” Jon exclaimed. “We paid for a room with three comfortable beds where and instead there’s someone else in there.”

At that moment, Gendry, who had clearly missed Theon’s signal earlier, walked into the room, “There you guys are! We were starting to think you’d missed the train.”

“We almost _did_ ,” Jon muttered darkly.

“I wish someone’s bad mood _had_ ,” Theon shot back.

Suddenly, Jon seemed to catch what Gendry had just said. “What do you mean _we_?! Who’s in there with you.” As soon as he said it, the realization seemed to catch up with him and he turned back to Theon with a look of utter betrayal on his face. “You wouldn’t have done this to me, would you Theon?”

Theon glanced guiltily at the table for a moment before catching himself and forcing his eyes back up to meet Jon’s. “Wouldn’t do what?” he asked, pretending he wasn’t the sort of person who would do exactly the sort of thing Jon was accusing him of.

“After you forced me to do the most idiotic routine of my life,” Jon said, with such hurt in his voice that Theon was actually starting to feel really guilty. “I had so much anxiety to deal with from that alone, THEN you get me involved with the sheriff, and THEN I almost lose my life catching this train. I know, I just _know_ , that on top of all that you wouldn’t take away my privacy and my comfortable bed, would you?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Theon noticed Gendry edging toward the door and wished very badly that he could join him. Rather than fess up to Jon’s accusations, Theon decided to feign ignorance. “What on earth are you talking about?” Theon asked primly.

Jon, glaring at him, was unconvinced. “I’m following Gendry back to our drawing room and if I find those two Stark girls in there, I’m going to tell them exactly what I think about-”

At that moment, his rant was cut off by the entrance of the beautiful Sansa Stark. Theon could have kissed her for that alone, but when she ran over to them, sat down in the booth next to Jon and threw her arms around him, Theon decided to name her in his will. “Mr Snow, how can we ever thank you?” Sansa asked, her voice slightly muffled by Jon’s shoulder.

Arya walked toward the table behind her sister and winked toward Theon as she said to Jon, “Theon told us how you insisted on giving us your tickets.”

Sansa nodded to Jon and gave him a smile that melted the man’s heart if his dazed expression was any indication. “It really was so sweet and generous of you.”

“Jon, wasn’t there something you wanted to say to the girls?” Gendry asked cheekily, walking up to the table behind Arya.

Theon did his best not to burst out laughing at the words and vowed to himself that once this was all over he would make sure that their cheeky assistant got the raise he so desperately deserved.

“Um…” Jon faltered and then swallowed, still lost in the sea of Sansa’s blue eyes. “Oh,” he said, catching himself and giving Gendry a look when he realized that they both knew that whatever he’d been threatening to tell them would be inappropriate. “Yeah...would you care to join us for a bite to eat?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this yesterday when I finally had an evening to write, but I fell asleep on top of my bed before I could do a final read-through. lol Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy Theon's POV! Thanks so much for the comments! You guys are the best! <3
> 
> Update: I have not given up on this fic, but it is on hiatus at the moment as these next few months I will be working 70-80 hours a week. I have almost everything outlined already though so I will finish this at some point. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy December everyone! I've been wanting a White Christmas AU so badly that I decided to write it myself! Check out the moodboard for this fic [here](https://foreverreadingbeautifulbooks.tumblr.com/post/189426490120/im-dreaming-of-a-white-christmas-by).
> 
> Author's note: Only the writing is mine, but I own nothing else. The characters belong to the brilliant George R.R. Martin and most of the plot and some of the dialogue comes from the movie White Christmas. I'm also going to try to title each of the chapters after a song in the film.


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